Carty thrilled to become Connacht's record points scorer

History made in the Sportsgrounds as Carty breaks Eric Elwood's long standing record. 

HISTORY MADE: Connacht captain Jack Carty becomes the provinces all time top scorer. Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

URC: Connacht 43 Lions 24

Captain Jack Carty said he probably won’t appreciate becoming Connacht’s all-time top scorer until he hangs up his boots.

His focus is entirely on trying to guide his native province as they head into the business end of the season boosted by a superb victory over the Lions at the Sportsground.

It was a notable clash for a number of reasons. Carty’s tally of 13 points saw him surpass Eric Elwood’s record haul of 1,152 on a night when Caolin Blade became the third Connacht player in a row to notch a hat-trick.

The win also maintains Connacht’s perfect record against visiting teams from South Africa with this triumph over the Lions making it nine wins from nine.

Carty has rediscovered top form in recent games and is understandably honoured to beat the scoring record.

“This place means so much to me, so it’s great to get it but it’s probably something that I will look back on when I finish my career and will be something I will be proud of,” said Carty.

“It probably should have happened much earlier in the season but I had the yips for a couple of games so it was nice to kind of get over that hump and this win".

“I think last year we peaked around Christmas time but I think we are wrapping up nicely this season. I think lads are looking forward to a couple of weeks off and we will go from there again,” said Carty.

Connacht director of rugby Andy Friend praised Carty for reaching the scoring milestone but stressed there is plenty more to come from his captain.

“The captaincy can be a heavy load for some players but Jack seems to take that on in his stride and he has really grown into that role. To take that scoring record of the great Eric Elwood is no small feat but he has a lot more points to come too. He’s only a young man and if keeps kicking the way he was tonight and attacking the line he will score a lot more points too,” added Friend.

Connacht had the bonus point in the bag by the 36th minutes when Carty set up Tiernan O’Halloran for their fourth try and by then the out-half had become the province’s top scorer.

That happened when he converted Blade’s opening try ten minutes earlier as he surpassed the six points needed to beat Elwood’s record.

Winger Diarmuid Kilgallen gave them a perfect start when he crossed after just three minutes and while the Lions hit back through the boot of Jordan Hendrikse and giant 138kg prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye to lead 10-8 before hooker Shane Delahunt crossed for Connacht after a penalty to the left corner.

And with Niall Murray superb up front and scrum-half Blade dictating matters, Connacht got control again to lead by 29-17 at the interval.

O’Halloran charged down a Hendrikse clearance for Blade to get his second try four minutes after the restart and the scrum-half from Galway completed his hat-trick after 62 minutes.

The Lions, completing a four-match tour to Europe, hit back for a third try 14 minutes from time when centre Marius Louw caught the home defence napping when he tapped a penalty and got over but they were unable to grab a bonus point.

Scorers: Connacht: Blade (3), Kilgallen, Delahunt, O’Halloran. Cons: Carty (5 from 6). Pen: Carty (1 from 1).

Lions: Tries: Ntlabakanye, van Wyk, Louw. Cons: Hendrikse (3 from 3). Pen: Hendrikse (1 from 1) Connacht: T O’Halloran (O McNulty 57); D Kilgallen (D Tierney-Martin 39-42), T Farrell, C Forde (T Daly 61), J Porch; J Carty (c), C Blade (K Marmion 64); P Dooley (J Duggan 61), S Delahunt (Tierney-Martin 57), J Aungier (D Robertson-McCoy 59); D Murray (L Fifita 68), N Murray; J Murphy (S Hurley-Langton 59), C Oliver (Hurley-Langton 8-17), J Butler.

Lions: Q Horn; E van der Merwe, H van Wyk (M Rass (52), M Louw (c), S Pienaar (A Coetzee 66); J Hendrikse, A Warner (van der Berg 50); JP Smith (M Naude 57), PJ Botha (M van Vuuren 63), A Ntlabakanye (R Smith 63); W Alberts, D Landsberg (PJ van Vuren 51); S Sangweni, R Straeuli, E Tshituka (J Kriel 61).

Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand).